#50842
12/27/2001 1:38 AM
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This site, yourDictionary.com, offers their choices for the top ten words of 2001, plus a number of interesting word and phrase sublists on the same page. #1 word of 2001.... ground zero. Agree? Disagree? Other nominations? http://yourdictionary.com/about/topten2001.html
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#50843
12/28/2001 1:55 AM
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Well, I reckon no place IS guaranteed of foolproof editing.
Look what yourDict. has in their opening paragraph: Best & Worse Corporate Name Changes I didn't at first assume it was an error, but when I checked down the page, sure enough the heading reads: Best & Worst Corporate Name Changes.
Anyway--I strongly disagree with using the term ground zero to refer to the site of the WTC, as well as with saying the WTC was bombed. It was not bombed--it was hit with airplanes. It doesn't matter that the planes had the effect of a bomb--an airplane is not a bomb, and therefore by extension, using the term ground zero is inappropriate.
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#50844
12/28/2001 10:59 AM
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
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There on the list is this:
10. Foot-and-Mouth Until this year, many thought the word was "hoof-and-mouth" disease.
Whuh? I guess I'm one of many.
I have a proposition to make here that I think would be a lot of fun. Why don't we each start to formulate a list of our own ten best words of 2001, ones that had personal signficance, professional even, Oversoul even--the whole shebang!
You could start your list, if it takes some research, and then just edit by building it up to ten as we quickly progress toward New Year's Eve. I sure as heck would love knowing ten words that had captivated each of you!
I'll begin, OK? (And keep my fingers crossed that others will add here--read "All of You!")
1. Babirussa
2. Gloriette
3. Odabagan
4. Esculent
5. Rataplan
6. Rill
7. Cornobbled
8. Agnogenic
9. Amatorculist
10. Thurible
...will return after I've checked my sources. May change a couple of the above, but those are the ones that immediately come to mind.
No one took the bait, but keep your eyes peeled and your ears open, because, if I'm still here, I'll propose the same question again next year.
Best regards,
WordWisher, who doesn't mean to sabotage the thread!!!
Edit:
Come on, guys! This could be fun!
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#50845
12/28/2001 2:13 PM
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Posts: 13,803
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It was not bombed--it was hit with airplanes.For that matter, the phrase has come back closer to its original meaning than many of its recent wanderings lately. For a related discussion see http://members.boardhost.com/Vocabula/msg/428.html
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#50846
12/29/2001 7:22 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
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No, the WTC wasn't "bombed" in the sense that a purpose-built bomb wasn't used in each of the buildings. But the distinction is fine, and if you take the act separately from the, um, collateral damage caused - the destruction of the aeroplane and the deaths of the passengers in each case - it was indeed a bombing. What were those planes if they weren't improvised cruise missiles?
And the argument used to support the use of "ground zero" in Faldage's link - that it is concise and that everyone knows exactly what is being talked about - holds good for me. The photo that Helen posted shows that the site of the WTC does look exactly as if a small nuke had been detonated. Although the term will lose its power over time, at the moment it also emphasises that the unthinkable has happened there. That struck me quite forceably when I first heard the term used in relation to the WTC outrage.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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#50847
12/29/2001 10:33 PM
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Posts: 3,409
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#50848
12/31/2001 2:32 AM
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I'm sticking to my planes, on this one. There are some things that just are. No bombs were dropped on, launched at, or detonated by the WTC. It was hit by airplanes. I repeat: a plane is not a bomb. It is simply incorrect to say that the WTC was bombed. There are other words that are just as descriptive, and correct as well:
destroyed; flattened; leveled; annihilated; devastated, are a few.
As was said elsewhere, a million people saying something does not make it the truth. I equate the statement that the WTC was bombed with the statement that the year 2000 began the 21st century: it just ain't so!
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#50849
12/31/2001 6:05 AM
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Posts: 10,542
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>destroyed; flattened; leveled; annihilated; devastated...
and, of course, decimated. (hi bill!)
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#50850
12/31/2001 4:27 PM
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No bombs were dropped on, launched at, or detonated by the WTC
Did I miss something here? I saw no hint in the original link that suggested any implication of bombing. There is certainly none in the phrase itself. The mere fact that the original use of the phrase, over a half century ago, referred to a point on the surface of the earth directly below the point of detonation of a bomb seems hardly reason to condemn the use of the phrase to indicate the point on the surface of the earth directly below an explosion of another sort. It's like condemning the use of the word silly to describe someone who is not happy or blessed.
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#50851
12/31/2001 5:29 PM
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094 |
It is simply incorrect to say that the WTC was bombed.
From M-W.com
bomb - transitive sense
1 : to attack with or as if with bombs : BOMBARD
2 : to defeat decisively
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#50852
12/31/2001 5:37 PM
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I saw no hint in the original link that suggested any implication of bombing.
Neither did I, and I would be interested in an explanation of why this was even brought up.
The mere fact that the original use of the phrase, over a half century ago, referred to a point on the surface of the earth directly below the point of detonation of a bomb seems hardly reason to condemn the use of the phrase to indicate the point on the surface of the earth directly below an explosion of another sort
Okay, this old lady can see the point of this argument--as long as the word 'bombed' is being used as an adjective. My disapproval of the use of this phrase comes from my interpreting it as being used as a verb. One more time (sigh): the WTC was not bombed(v.).
EDIT: Yes, JazzO, I saw that. The usage above is intransitive, I believe; also, bombarded is not the same as bombed. I would have little trouble with the phrase, "The WTC was bombarded by planes".
You-all can go on with this or not, as you wish. I don't think I'm going to fool with it any longer. To me, saying that something was bombed STATES UNEQUIVOCALLY that actual bombs were used. The end.
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#50853
12/31/2001 7:21 PM
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I would have little trouble with the phrase, "The WTC was bombarded by planes".
Well, I would. To me, IMHO, the word "bombarded" implies mutliple, repeated hits, n a succession sufficinetly rapid that each hits before there is time to recover from the one before.
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#50854
12/31/2001 7:23 PM
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>>I saw no hint in the original link that suggested any implication of bombing. >Neither did I, and I would be interested in an explanation of why this was even brought up. I guess that explanation would have to come from you, J, as you seem to have introduced it way back up top. 
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#50855
12/31/2001 10:23 PM
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And so, to cross threads with fuzzle, I suspect there may be a few people that get bombed Hi, Jackie tonight. I'll be hiding out in my bomb shelter (aka in bed under the covers) Hi, Mom!
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#50856
01/01/2002 1:15 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
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>>I saw no hint in the original link that suggested any implication of bombing.
>Neither did I, and I would be interested in an explanation of why this was even brought up.
I guess that explanation would have to come from you, J, as you seem to have introduced it way back up top
Good God. I never said, or thought, that the link said anything about bombing. The term 'ground zero' is used for where a bomb hits. The term brought up bombing. The link did not, as far as I know. I felt like that statement was made to imply that I had used the link as a vehicle for promoting my argument, when in fact that was not the case.
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#50857
01/01/2002 2:37 AM
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The term 'ground zero' is used for where a bomb hits.
The term 'Ground Zero' was, before Sept 11, normally associated with the point on the Earth directly below a nuclear explosion. At that time we didn't conceive that explosions of this magnitude could be accomplished with anything but bombs. You cannot deny that when the planes hit the WTC there were explosions; there was conflagration beyond the explosions. Ground Zero is the point on the surface of the Earth directly below those explosions.
However, apparently there has been some talk recently that the term "ground zero" predated the first nuclear explosions.
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